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V4 countries reject EU criticism over attitude on migration

Xinhua, February 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group (V4) rejected the negative reaction to their countries' attitude towards the migrant issue after a meeting in Prague on Thursday.

The V4 countries had been criticized for their alleged failure to show enough solidarity and their objection to the European Union (EU) on issues related to migration.

At the conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of the founding of V4, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said that the criticism is perceived as a misunderstanding or malice.

Hungarian Minister Szijjarto said that the V4 countries paid the price for speaking openly and not accepting political correctness. He said that Europe "has not been dominated by hypocrisy and political correctness" thanks to the Visegrad Group.

Szijjarto reiterated that the V4 countries always acted "honestly and directly," saying it is impossible to find solutions to these serious problems when they are "trapped by political correctness and hypocrisy."

The V4 proposal to stop the uncontrolled influx of migrants from Greece by creating an alternative Schengen border in Bulgaria and Macedonia provoked stormy reactions.

After their meeting on Monday in Prague, this plan was presented by V4 prime ministers as an option in case the EU agreement with Turkey failed.

The V4 foreign ministers agreed on Thursday that they supported an all-European solution to the migrant crisis.

Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said that the all-European solution to migration rests in a consistent protection of the external border of the Schengen Area, mainly the stemming of the migrant influx from Turkey to Greece.

The V4 countries also agreed that they will jointly organise humanitarian projects to improve the situation in the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon.

The V4 countries are Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Endit